Page 40 of Searching for Thanksgiving

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Crystal cursed as she stopped and leaned heavily on the hiking stick. She was lost. There were no ifs, ands, or buts about it. She had lost the trail, if you could call it a trail, a while back and now it was too dark to even see where she had walked.

“ARGH!”

The smothered snicker to her frustrated cry wasn’t helping her mood. She scanned the area, wishing she had the eyesight of a dragon. She had known the dragon-cat was following her, but she hadn’t realized his master was as well.

I should have known knocking him in the jewels wouldn’t stop him, she thought with a sigh.

“You might as well come out,” she called.

“Is it safe?”

Her lips twitched at the cautious note intermingled with the amusement laced in his deep voice. She tried to pinpoint where his voice came from, but it was impossible in the darkness. Everything seemed to echo in the forest.

“Probably not,” she warned.

His low chuckle was closer. She turned and found herself face-to-face with him. Her breath caught when he reached out and caught a strand of her hair that blew across her face in the light breeze.

“You are heading the wrong way,” he said.

“Tell me something I don’t know. The least your pet could have done since you insisted it follow me was keep me on the right path,” she retorted.

The symbiot, invisible in the darkness, snorted at her referring to it as a pet. She knew she was being catty. It was because the guy made her feel?—

Everything.

She felt off-center, clumsy, vulnerable, and worst of all… feminine. The realization made her realize how much she had tried to shield her heart from heartache after her first and only attempt at romance.

This ISN’T romance. This is some other sort of… something.

She blinked when she felt his hand brush along her cheek again. His lips were curved into a bemused smile. It was as if he were experiencing the same conflict that she was.

“I can almost hear your mind churning.”

“You can?”

She inwardly winced at her breathless response. Disappointment filled her when he stepped back. She pulled her trekking pole in front of her and leaned into it.

“I’ll return you to your home,” he said in a gruff tone.

Before she could respond, his body shimmered, and in its place stood a silver and black dragon. She had seen Christoff transform dozens of times since she first met him. Heck, she had even watched her grandmother change, but there was something more intimate about watching Devon.

She reached out and stroked the dragon’s jaw when he bent his head toward her. Her fingers traced the deep grooves. Christoff had told her that most of the time, a dragon… or his more human form… would heal with few scars thanks to their symbiot. The only time it couldn’t was if the wound was too grievous.

She slowly traced the four deep marks. They ran from his jaw, down the right side of his neck and across his chest. Her eyes turned to his claws. The wound had obviously come from another dragon.

The man his symbiot showed me.

The dark-haired man’s features had been contorted with rage when he spoke to Devon. There had been an edge to his voice and in his eyes that spoke of cruelty. She wondered who the man was, and why Devon was arguing with him.

The dragon must have sensed her questions. He rubbed his cheek against her arm. An overwhelming desire to comfort the beast filled her. She understood the deep emotions that ran through a warrior’s dragon and his symbiot, thanks to her visits with Christoff. He had patiently answered her youthful questions.

“Everything will be alright. I’ll keep you safe,” she promised, caressing the strong jaw.

She knew Devon was deep inside the dragon and could understand her. She would have been too shy to have made such a vow to him. It was easier to make them to his dragon and symbiot. Their pain and grief matched her own in many ways.

Her lips curved when the dragon lowered himself to the ground. He turned his head and motioned for her to get on his back. She walked along his side, sliding her hand along his neck. An intuitive part of her seemed to recognize that his dragon needed her touch.

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